Digimon Champions
by Foowd
Summary: The MMO Digimon Champions Online has become a smash hit for Nexion Games, with thousands of accounts created daily. However, one young player, Dylan Foutler, would discover a deep dark secret lies beneath this seemingly harmless game as his partner Guilmon finds his way to Earth claiming Digimon have been disappearing. Can our intrepid young hero find the truth?
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes:**

**Hello You, and welcome to my first Digimon Fanfic on Fanfiction and fourth Digimon Fic overall (I have three others on DeviantArt), if you're familiar with me for fanfics about a certain purple dragon of legend, then there's an explanation at the end for you guys as to why I'm doing this instead. (And as an aside, if you ARE familiar with my previous work, you may recognize some of the human characters. Because recycling Ocs is good for the environment. )**

**I have to admit, getting back into Digimon is not something I expected to happen, but I can't deny that I kinda missed this fandom, and I want to see if I can still write Digimon, or if I'm doomed to forever sit in front of a blank word processor document, wondering what went wrong with my life. **

**So this story is gonna serve as a little experiment, to see if I've still got it or not, if I can still have fun writing this series like I used to on DeviantArt. And if it goes well, you people may see more Digimon stuff from me in the future!**

**I do not own Digimon (If I did, Digimon World Re:Digitize would have a US release, seriously guys what the hell?!) Digimon is © Toei Animation and Bandai/Namco. I have no affiliation with either, I'm just some typo happy idiot with bad facial hair that likes writing about it.**

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><p><span><strong>Prologue<strong>

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><p><em><strong>Digimon Champions Goes Free To Play Amidst Controversy<strong>_

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><p>Publisher Nexion Games has announced that Digimon Champions Online will now adopt a Free to Play model come next week, the Digimon Champions MMO has already accumulated quite a hefty userbase already and has proven quite popular with both young kids, and the Digimon nostalgic alike, and now that anyone can create an account for free, Nexion Games expects to see that number triple once the move is made. "We at Nexion Games are excited about this new model" Rex Nexion, CEO of Nexion Games told us in an interview. "We see this as a chance to help the community within the game grow stronger and stronger as time goes on." He added.<p>

However, some more cynical gamers claim this move was done as a means of saving face after the game's developer, DragonSoft, made claims that Nexion Games had underpaid them for their work on DigiChamps Online. Nexion refused to comment on the issue, claiming not wanting to create "bad blood" between the two companies as the reason. Although this controversy has some players up in arms, DigiChamps Online continues to have a large and healthy player base despite the bad blood.

However, DragonSoft head Venitary McMahon had a few interesting comments on the situation. "Going Free to Play was Nexion's idea" He told interviewers, "And while we here at DragonSoft are happy to welcome new players into our game, we still have staff members waiting for their paychecks." Venitary also claimed Nexion was being quite secretive about the game, not telling DragonSoft of any updates or planned content. Even noting that Nexion had taken the source code and refused to allow DragonSoft to retain a copy claiming "business reasons".

Well, whatever bad blood may brew between the publisher and developer of the game, there's no denying that DigiChamps Online has been a huge success, and will be here for years to come.

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><p><span><strong>Author's NotesExplanation:**

**What's this?! Foowd's writing something that ISN'T Spyro?! This can't happen! This is unpossible! This is MADNESS!**

**Yeah I bet if you know me for my Spyro fics you have plenty of questions for me right now, and if you don't I bet you're nodding wistfully pretending to follow. Well allow me to explain.**

**I moved shop from DeviantArt with the intent to not let myself be confined to one fandom when it came to fanfics. And I kinda saw that happening with the Spyro fics, so I decided to take an extended break from that franchise to end that before it began. Don't worry, I'll get back to you guys some day... eventually.**

**But I had recently gotten back into the Digimon series after seeing a few episodes of that new fangled Digimon Fusion series there one day when my body decided sleep was for chumps and I decided to watch early morning television to at least give me something to gawk at while I battled insomnia. (And when your options are either kid's cartoons or infomercials, the choice is pretty obvious now isn't it?) And I wanted to try another crack at Digimon again.**

**If you're just a random Digimon fan that looked at my story and said "I would very much like to read that good sir". Then this is all pointless prattle to you. But I felt if I didn't explain this my inbox was going to be filled to the brim with people asking me why I suddenly switched fandoms on them. And no one wants that.**


	2. We All Fade Away

**Chapter 1: We All Fade Away**

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><p><em><strong>New Harmony- Foutler Residence- 6:22 AM<strong>_

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><p>You never really think about it do you? The possibility of a game being more than just a game? Of course not, that's ridiculous right? Game worlds may look like real worlds, but they're just, in reality, the products of the imaginations of game designers and programmers right? Well... what would happen to me one day would make me think twice about it from then on...<p>

But I'm getting ahead of myself, my name is Dylan Samuel Foutler, a fourteen year old kid from the small city of New Harmony. I was affectionately dubbed "mophead" by my peers for my signature medium long brown hair. The rest of me is pretty unremarkable, I was pretty slender in figure, had two brown eyes to match my hair, I usually wore a t-shirt and jeans of some kind or other. And a studded wrist band on my right wrist. All in all, not exactly what comes to mind when you think "world saving hero" if you know what I mean.

Anyway, enough about me, let's get to what happened. It all started a few months ago on my 14th birthday, my grandparents had gotten me a two month subscription to Digimon Champions Online. I don't know why though, I had never shown any interest in the game, but not wanting to be an ungrateful little grandson I indulged it anyway, and well... I got hooked. There's no way around it I got sucked into it like a space ship into a black hole.

Me and my Digimon of choice, Guilmon, went on many virtual adventures before being completely flattened by another player vastly above my dinky level. And then my subscription ran out, effectively putting my Digimon adventures to an end, my mother not willing to buy more subscriptions claiming she didn't make the money to support a video game on top of everything else she had to pay for. So I sulked for a month, until one day a friend of mine had told me that the game had gone free to play.

Finally! I could resume my Digimon adventures and have my soul crushed every time I realize how many hours I pour into this game. So one rainy Monday morning I decided to boot the game up again for a little gaming before school, It had been almost an entire month since I last logged into DigiChamps online. Thankfully I still had my profile and everything that came with it. Meaning I wouldn't have to grind low level Numemon for five hours again.

However, when the game booted up I noticed something was a bit... off, with Guilmon, he was holding his stomach, signifying either low health or poison. This was odd since your Digimon instantly regained their health and attack points every time you logged in. "Huh? That's weird..." I commented to myself, I'd best check his status anyway just to be safe, don't want to get ambushed and crushed by a high level player looking for easy XPs... again.

However, when the status screen popped up everything was fine, Guilmon was at full health and had not status ailments. But yet he continued to act like he had just been punched in the soul. I shrugged and continued on, chalking it up to a strange glitch. Glitches were common in this game, I had once fallen through the floor and into the abyss below, forcing me to log out and re-log back in, so this being a glitch wasn't too far fetched.

And for a while, everything was normal, I even managed to get a few side quests done, I guess it was a glitch, a glitch that had yet to rectify itself as Guilmon still limped everywhere we went.

However, suddenly Guilmon just up and ran off while I was trying to get to one of the towns. "Hey! What the?!" I exclaimed as this happened, the Digimon NEVER ran off on their own, they always followed right behind your avatar so this was pretty bizarre to put it nicely. I almost didn't want to follow him, thinking he'd blink out of existence or just pop right back behind me, but no, when I turned my avatar around there he was, still running off into the distance.

So I followed him, all the while trying to rationalize what was going on, the game had never done this before, m... maybe it was still a glitch? But then, Guilmon suddenly stopped at a clearing in the forest and slowly turned to face me. I felt a chill run down my spine as he did so. Suddenly a word balloon appeared over his head, signifying he was about to say something, which made no sense since Digimon never used the chat function, only players. However, I think my heart stopped when his message popped up.

"_**Why did you leave me?"**_

I just stood there... staring at the message, this was no glitch... no glitch did anything like **this**. I was legitimately scared now, I tried to rationalize what was happening, maybe a hacker was messing with me? Maybe this was some kind of bizarre Easter Egg put in by the programmers? I don't know, but whatever it was it wasn't done yet as Guilmon began to type out another message.

"_**Something bad is happening here, Digimon are disappearing.. and I couldn't find you anywhere! Please... don't go away again..."**_

My heart began to race, what the hell was going on with my game? What was he talking about? I had so many questions that I highly doubted I'd get answers to. W... was my game haunted? Is that what was happening here?

Then I noticed something, I had to look closely just to make sure, but I could see Guilmon had... tears in his eyes. I wanted to turn the game off... but like a deer in the headlights I just couldn't stop staring at the bizarre happenings on my screen, when my friend mentioned the game had gone free to play, they had failed to mention it was also full of nonsense and DEMONS! Guilmon began another message.

"_**I don't want to disappear like the others... don't let them take me Dylan."**_

Okay! I've read enough CreepyPastas to know where this was going! Soon Guilmon was gonna start bleeding out of his eyes and speaking in tongues. Then there would be blood everywhere and oh man I need to log out now before something lunges out of the screen and tries to strangle me or something! So I did, I logged out, breathing heavily, cold sweat on my face. The room was quiet, the only sounds being the light pitter patter of the rain outside. What happened back there? Did I even want to know?

I looked back at my computer screen, which now displayed my desktop. I didn't dare go near it again after what had just happened, I cowered over to my bed... wrapping myself it the covers trying to calm myself down. I thought going back to the game would be fun... but instead all I got was... whatever the heck that was!

"Dylan! Time to get ready for school!" I heard my mom call from downstairs. How could I get ready for school after THAT experience? Well, I'd have to at least try. So I got up, and got dressed, all the while I couldn't take my mind off of what Guilmon was saying... what did he mean by "I don't want to disappear? Did he gain sentience and witness people's accounts being terminated? I didn't even try to begin to wrap my head around it because all it did was make my brain hurt... maybe it was nothing? Just some hacker trying to mess with people? Yeah... that sounded a lot more plausible... and less terrifying.

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><p><em><strong>Later- New Harmony Middle School- 7:53 AM<strong>_

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><p>By the time I had actually gotten to school, the shock of what happened on DigiChamps Online had all but worn off, which was good because the last thing I needed was to be in full on freak out mode while at school. I was already picked on enough already as it was.<p>

I didn't know if I should talk to someone about it or not, would they even believe me? I doubted they would, I mean, the whole thing was ridiculous. But that didn't change the fact that it happened. What **would** I tell them? That my game was haunted? They'd probably just write it off as me being crazy. Heck, maybe I **was** crazy! Who knows?

I was ripped right from my thoughts by the sounds of the school bell. Crap! I was gonna be late for class! Oh the last thing I needed today was to be tardy! Mr. Layfield was notoriously strict when it came to these things. Dude had major issues, and liked to take it out on his "problem students". I rushed down the halls in the vain hopes I could maybe just maybe make it in time. I rounded the next corner. Oh man! I think I can make it!

I finally managed to get to the door. "You're late Mr. Foutler." Mr. Layfield said. Aw man... **so** close! But yet so far... I slumped down and walked over to the teacher, who gave me a tardy slip and pointed me to my desk. Well, this was turning out to be the worst day ever, terrorized by a haunted MMO **and** I was only one late slip away from having to stay after school! I hate my life...

"Dude you're **never** late! What gives?"

I turned to see my best friend Zack Abott had noticed that little incident. Zack was the resident geek of the school, with his Green Lantern T-Shirt, red hair that parted in the middle, he had a pair of blue jeans on, green lantern sweat bands on his wrists, and a pair of green and black sneakers. Zack was also the friend that told me DigiChamps had gone free to play, since he followed that sort of thing more than I did.

I sighed and turned to Zack. "I've had a weird morning dude..." I told him, debating with him whether or not I wanted to tell him about what had occurred this morning. Zack raised a curious eyebrow. "Weird as in... you forgot your left sock?" Zack replied. Oh if only it were that mundane... if only...

I took a deep breath. "You're gonna think I'm crazy... but... I think my Digichamps account is haunted." I told him, Zack's face told the whole story, he just had this blank expression like I had just told him I wore tinfoil to keep aliens from stealing my thoughts. "When I logged on this morning, Guilmon was acting strange, he was in his low health animation when I booted it up, I thought it was just a glitch and kept playing, but then he ran off and when I found him he kept saying weird things to me. Something about "disappearing." I elaborated in the vain hopes I could somehow get him to buy my story.

Zack just sat there and blinked before responding. "You sure you weren't being hacked or something?" Zack asked. Well at least he didn't think I was nuts, that had to count for something right? "Maybe... I didn't know hackers could **do** that kind of stuff to an MMO" I said, I wanted Zack to be right... I **really** did. But a small part of me felt that there was more to this than hackers playing a sick joke on a fourteen year old player.

"Try logging in again after school and see if it does it again." Zack suggested, yeah because I was **so** willing to subject myself to that madness **again**! But then again, I had to know for sure right? I was too curious to leave it alone after all. But if this ended with me being killed by supernatural nonsense I knew exactly who I was going to be haunting.

"Mr. Foutler, Mr. Abott, If you two don't mind saving your little conversation for later I'd actually like to start my class!" Mr. Layfield said sternly. Not wanting to get into even **more** trouble than I already was I complied and so did Zack.

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><p><em><strong>Later After School- Front of The School- 2:09 PM<strong>_

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><p>The rest of the school day thankfully went off without a hitch. Part of me was kinda dreading going home, because I knew sooner or later, I'd have to try Digimon Champions again, and I had a sinking feeling that I wasn't going to like what I saw when I did. But I knew my curiosity wasn't going to let me leave it alone so I had no choice really. Oh please let Zack be right...<p>

Speaking of Zack... "Dude would you relax? The game is **not** haunted!" Zack said to me, noticing how uneasy I was. "I'm telling you Dylan, it's just some jerk hacker messing with you." Zack added. I know I should believe him, any rational person would. But for some reason, I felt there was more to it.

I turned to Zack. "Yeah, I know dude, but you didn't see what happened back there." I told him. I must sound like I'm out of my mind. Like that crazy guy screaming about the lizard people there was no way any sane person would believe what I was saying but yet I persisted. Man I **am** crazy!

"Whatever man, you'll see, everything will be as it should be when you log in again, maybe we can go on a quest together then?" Zack said. The bus then pulled up before more could be said, we both boarded the bus, ready to go home.

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><p><em><strong>Later- Foutler Residence- 2:45 PM<strong>_

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><p>Well with the bus ride home out of the way, there was only one thing left to do... face DigiChamps Online again... and pray it doesn't do more creepy stuff... I feel like I should be recording this so that people can know the truth of what became of Dylan Foutler after he "mysteriously vanished" one day after logging into an MMO.<p>

I just stared at the computer, I **so** didn't want to do this... but I would never feel better about it until I did. With a deep breath I clicked the icon, launching the game. And...

Nothing.

The game didn't even launch, the window was just a blank screen of nothingness. A bit anticlimactic really. But hey, at least I was still alive right? However my heart sank when text started scrolling across the top.

"_**They want to make me disappear."**_

"_**I don't want to be here anymore..."**_

"_**I wanna be where you are..."**_

"_**You'll protect me... won't you?"**_

Yup... yup my computer is now haunted... way to go Foutler. And as if to solidify my haunted theory the screen began to glow. I jumped back, my brain completely unable to make rational sense out of anything I was seeing. However when the light shot down in front of me, forming a shape of some kind before going away just as fast. Well goodbye sanity, it was nice knowing you.

The light then died down just as fast as it had came, revealing it had dumped something into my room, it was a red dinosaur like creature, about the size of an adult human, he had black markings littering his body, two bat wing like ears on it's head, now this was horrifyingly bizzare enough on it's own, after all a dinosaur suddenly beaming into your room was enough to make anyone question their sanity. However what made this worse was I recognized it instantly. "G...Guilmon?" I said... completely awestruck that a real live Digimon was laying out cold on my bedroom floor. It was impossible! It made no sense at all. Digimon weren't real! It was a video game! Right? But the fact that Guilmon was in my room, on my floor, proved that little theory wrong and then some.

Guilmon had several cuts and scrapes all over his body, signifying he had been attacked prior to suddenly appearing in my room. I meanwhile was still trying to make rational sense of what was happening here, this didn't make any sense at all! This doesn't happen in reality! Video game characters don't just suddenly warp into your room! But there he was! Guilmon then began to stir, groaning lightly as he sat up, he quickly craned his neck towards me.

It only dawned on me then what had really been happening to my game. He wasn't trying to scare me at all... he was crying out for help... and I blew him off because I was too scared to hear him out. "Oh man... Guilmon... I... I'm so sorry..." I said. The truth hitting me like a wrecking ball.

Guilmon grew a sad expression after hearing this. "What for?" He asked me. I had so much running through my head, a whirlwind of confusion, shock, and guilt all rolled into one. "Don't be sad Dylan... I'm okay now... see?" Guilmon said standing up to show me he was okay. I had so many questions right now... but I couldn't bring myself to ask any of them right now... I just sat there in shocked silence...

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><p><em><strong>Meanwhile- Unknown Location.<strong>_

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><p>"Sir! SIR!" I heard called to me as an intern busted through my office door. "Jenkins this had better be important, you know I don't like being interrupted." I warned him, I rarely liked intrusions, so if Jenkins wished to keep his job... he had best have something important to tell me.<p>

"Sir, another one of the Digimon broke through into the real world!" Jenkins said in between breaths. I froze, another one? This was the third one to breach the barrier. This was getting out of hand... if this was left unchecked there would be a panic, and I knew full well who would take the blame for it. "Can you track it?" I asked him.

Jenkins stuttered a bit before being able to produce an answer. "N..no sir... we lost track of him after he left the Digital World." Jenkins confessed. This was problematic... who knows where that Digimon went to... or who saw it. "I want that Digimon found, and make sure no others break through... I don't want this getting out of hand." I told him. I put too much money into this to risk losing it to hysteria.

"Right away Mr. Nexion." I heard Jenkins say before the door clicked shut.

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><p><strong>AN- Dun dun duuuuh! I have to admit, the first chapter's a bit shaky, but hopefully it will improve later on.**

**On a side note, I might as well address this before it's brought up. Yes I know I've used Dylan and Zack in another story already. I've seen people reuse Ocs before though, so I don't think it's TOO big a problem, but just to make sure it's clear, no this is not canon with that story. Especially since the story they appeared in was a Spyro story not a Digimon story.**

**If this DOES bother you however, that's understandable. Reusing Ocs is kinda lazy and I try my best to use a new OC every story but sometimes, I can't help but go back and use one of my classics. (Or two in this case) Besides, to the Digimon fans these two are new (unless you've actually read my other stories . ) So it's a moot point. But I'll try not to do this in the future regardless**

**Okay... no more long author's notes explaining myself from here on out okay? Okay...**


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